


Uncommon Royalty

by house_of_lantis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:17:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/house_of_lantis/pseuds/house_of_lantis
Summary: Original prompt: Runaway royalty and confused commoner (though not really confused)





	Uncommon Royalty

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally part of my Marvel one-shot collection of fics (now deleted).

Interviewer: When did you first meet?

Steve Rogers: We were pretty young, just kids.

Prince James: I was maybe 13 or 14 and I’d snuck out of the Palace to explore the city on my own. And I walked past this alley where this kid was getting beat up. But he kept getting up and getting pushed down.

Steve Rogers: I really don’t like bullies.

Interviewer: So Your Highness, you rescued Steve?

Prince James: Hardly; he was holding his own. I went in to watch his back. Steve doesn’t need rescuing.

Steve Rogers: Is that when I gave you my favorite Captain America comic?

Prince James: Yeah; and I gave you my signet ring. I probably knew then that we’d grow up and I’d ask you to marry me.

 

*****  

 

“You all right?” Bucky said, helping the boy back on his feet. “Want me to get you to a hospital?”

“Nah, I’m all right,” the boy said, looking down at his dirty khakis and trying to slap off the stained fabric with his hands. “Mom is going to be so annoyed that my pants are dirty.”

Bucky barked out a laugh. “She’ll be annoyed at your pants? What about the bruise on your face?”

The boy frowned and reached up to touch his cheeks, flinching when his fingers pushed on the swollen skin. “Well, it’s a good thing she’s a nurse.”

“Where do you live? I’ll walk you home in case those jerks come back,” Bucky offered, giving the boy a small smile. “I’m Bucky, by the way.”

“Steve Rogers,” the boy said, nodding his head at Bucky. “You like videogames?”

“Sure,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly. “Doesn’t everybody?”

Bucky followed Steve out of the alley and they walked around the block to a row of brownstones. He watched as Steve took out a pair of keys from the pocket of his pants, undoing the large pin holding the keys to the pocket. He unlocked the front door, holding it for Bucky, and the two of them walked up two flights of stairs. Steve used the other key to open the apartment door and they slipped inside quickly.

“I got the new Mario Kart game on my birthday,” Steve said, kicking off his shoes and motioning for Bucky to do the same. “Do you like Mario Kart?”

Considering that Bucky had never played a videogame in his life, he wasn’t sure how to answer. He shrugged again. “I guess so.”

Steve looked at him oddly as they came into the neatly organized living room. The TV was small and old, but more than functional. He watched as Steve set up the system, handing one of the game remote controls to Bucky. He looked at all the small buttons and had no idea how he was going to fake his way through this. He couldn’t possibly tell Steve, a Commoner, that he had no idea how to play a stupid videogame. He was His Royal Highness Prince James Buchanan Barnes, Duke of York, Earl of Hampton, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of Brooklyn, Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen, and Heir to the Royal Throne of the United States of America.  

“What do you mean you guess so? You either do or you don’t, Bucky.”

“Well, then I guess I don’t know since I’ve never played it before,” he said, defensively.

Steve’s face lit up with a wide smile, the lower right side of his face starting to swell and becoming a bit purple. “That’s cool! I’ll show you! You’ll really like it, Bucky, I promise.”

Two hours later and Bucky and Steve were laughing, taunting each other as they worked through each race and level, Steve sitting cross-legged on the floor and Bucky jumping on the couch. That was how Steve’s mom found them when she walked into the house.

“Boys! I could hear you carrying on from the stairs,” she said, walking into the room. “Good Heavens, the ruckus two little boys can make. Mind the neighbors, Steven.”

“Yes, mom,” Steve said, smiling at her.

“Ohhh…what happened to your face?” Mrs. Rogers said, coming closer to him. She frowned, reaching for his cheeks and brushing back his blond hair. “Why didn’t you put any ice on it? It’s going to swell up to something awful later.”

“It doesn’t hurt too much, just don’t touch it.”

Mrs. Rogers sighed, running her hand gently over Steve’s head. “Are you really okay, honey?”

“I’m okay.”

She kissed his forehead and sighed. “I wish you’d stop getting into fights all the time.”

“They were being mean,” he protested, looking up at her. “I was just trying to do the right thing.”

“It’s true, ma’am,” Bucky said, trying to protect his new friend from a mother’s wrath, not that Mrs. Rogers seemed all that wrathful. “I saw them hitting him and pushing him down, so I went to help.”

Mrs. Rogers looked at Bucky, a kind smile on her face. He held his breath, wondering if she’d figure out who he was, and from the way that her eyes widened slightly, Bucky knew that she figured it out, and that she’d probably call the Palace to come and fetch him back.

“Are you Prince James?”

Bucky nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Do…do your people know that you’re here playing videogames with my Stevie?”

Steve turned around and stared at Bucky.

“No, ma’am,” he said, honestly. “I kinda snuck out of the Palace.”

“Good Heavens, we’re going to be arrested for kidnapping,” Mrs. Rogers said, getting to her feet and heading into the kitchen for the phone.

“I didn’t kidnap him,” Steve said, getting to his feet and grimacing. He turned and looked at Bucky. “I didn’t, right? You have to tell them. Don’t make us go to jail!”

“You’re not going to jail!” Bucky said, getting down off the couch.

“Stevie, didn’t you know that you were playing with Prince James?” Mrs. Rogers called from the kitchen, flipping through the phone book.

“His name is Bucky,” Steve called back to her.

“Bucky? What in the world is a Bucky? Do I just call 911? Is there a Palace emergency number?”

Bucky could’ve told her the Palace emergency number, but that would’ve meant that the guards would come out to get him and Mr. Pierce would scold him for running off and he’d be on lock down for 70 years or something.

“Sure I knew who he was,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “But he wanted to be called Bucky so I didn’t say nothing about him being a Prince because I didn’t want to be rude.”

Mrs. Rogers stepped out of the kitchen and stared at the two of them, her mouth opened and her eyes blinking.

“What am I going to do with the two of you?”

***

**TABLOID HEADLINE: Prince James Cheats on Future Consort; Who is the Mysterious Lover?**

 

Fifteen years later, the Palace announced Prince James’s engagement to Mr. Steven Rogers.

To outsiders, Prince James’s engagement came as a complete surprise. But Bucky’s mother, his younger sisters, Steve’s mom, the Palace advisors, and friends knew that Bucky and Steve’s engagement was inevitable.

For years, no one really believed that their friendship would endure the social brutalities that could divide a Royal and a Commoner; that Bucky would tire of his tag-along non-royal friend. Steve was a short, skinny kid and he grew up to be a short, skinny teen. No one was ever interested in the shy, awkward Commoner; there were times, if Steve was included in a group picture, he was mostly cropped out in the photograph splashed across glossy tabloid pages of Prince James’s glamorous royal life.

After high school, Prince James attended the prestigious York College, an institution with a long legacy of teaching and refining those heirs who would one day take the thrones or take the powerful positions of their families industries. It was there that everyone hoped he would network with his Peerage and find someone of uncommon beauty, worthy enough to bring home to the Palace. Prince James graduated with a degree in political science and business and came home to learn the business of running a kingdom.

Steve attended the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a degree in graphic design. He returned home to Washington DC to work for a design firm, slowly building his reputation as a creative, an artist, and rising to the ranks of Creative Director of the top design firm in the city.  

Steve took a small condo in DuPont Circle, tucked away on a quiet street, outside of the fancy spotlight that followed Prince James everywhere. But the best thing with Steve living on the outside was that it gave  _Bucky_   a place to go where he could be unfettered by the expectations of his social rank. Most nights, Bucky could be found eating pizza and drinking beer on Steve’s tiny balcony, curled up against Steve’s chest as they talked about their day.

“Am I being selfish, keeping you hidden away?”

Steve considered it, then huffed out a small laugh and shook his head. “Nah, I like that it’s just us, no crown or throne or paparazzi.”

“It’ll all change, you know, when you marry me. Everyone will fall in love with you.”

“I’ll be ready for it then,” he said, stroking Bucky’s hair and pressing a kiss against his temple.

“Still haven’t told me yes,” Bucky said, pouting slightly.

“It’s been a yes for nearly all my life, jerk,” Steve whispered, tilting Bucky’s head back and kissing his soft lips.

Bucky turned and curled his arm behind Steve’s neck, changing the angle of the kiss so that he could taste Steve’s mouth properly. He chuckled against Steve’s lips and then pulled back slightly to gaze up at him.

“You’re such a punk.”

***

When the engagement announcement became public, the Palace Press Secretary asked for a sense of social decorum and privacy for Mr. Steven Rogers. As a public citizen, Mr. Rogers wasn’t under any obligation to give interviews or to have his pictures taken. He had a right to privacy as he completed his projects. He would be open to public appearances as soon as he had fulfilled his work contracts.

No one was ever interested in short, skinny Steve in the past; they weren’t all that interested in the same old Steve of the present. For once, the rabid paparazzi gave Steve a wide berth.

That didn’t stop the never ending commentary on their engagement. It was unanimously agreed that Prince James could do so much better thank short, skinny Steve Rogers. There weren’t many official media pictures of Steve, since he was cropped out of them, so news and entertainment outlets turned to social media to hack private social media accounts to try and find recent pictures of Steve. In order to protect Steve’s privacy, the Palace network IT security teams had shut down all of Steve’s social media accounts and trawled through the Internet to delete any images of Steve that they found.

For all intents and purposes, Steve Rogers was invisible.

So when the picture of Bucky and the mysterious, hot blond kissing on a balcony showed up in the media, it was the hottest news cycle running.

The picture, taken from a smartphone camera from across the street, wasn’t all that explicit. But it showed Prince James leaning back against the chest of a handsome man who was built like a linebacker with wide shoulders, a few inches taller than Prince James, and who touched the royal with surety and familiarity. The kiss wasn’t dirty, but it was intimate and deep, with the mysterious lover’s long arms holding Prince James close. It wasn’t a cheap affair, not just a sexual romp for the glamorous Prince James, but an emotional and physical connection. It was the worst kind of affair; Prince James was in love with the mysterious, gorgeous blond.

***

“Why haven’t you said anything? The press is crucifying you and calling you all kinds of names – calling for you to step down from your throne,” Steve said, frowning deeply.

“I don’t care what they say,” Bucky told him, shaking his head. “Your privacy and security is more important to me than the fucking tabloids.”

Steve huffed out a breath and shook his head. “I hate that they’re treating you like this; I can’t stand that they’re trying to bully you.”

Bucky grinned and stood up to place a warm, chaste kiss on Steve’s mouth. “I love you, Stevie, you always have my back.”

“Someone has to since you won’t do anything to defend yourself.”

“When we finally do go public, they’re all going to piss their pants for insulting us,” Bucky said, gleefully. “So much ass-kissing and kowtowing to regain your favor; all those nasty things that they used to print about you.”

Steve sighed, his hands on Bucky’s hips. “I don’t care what people think I look like. If I were still that short, skinny kid, I know you’d still love me.”

“I would – I have,” Bucky murmured, licking up Steve’s neck. “And I love this, too.” He took a deep breath and gazed up at Steve. “I love you for your heart of gold and your beliefs and your kindness and your sense of fairness and your weird sense of humor…so many other things than just your body. Which I love, too, by the way.”

Steve laughed and rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“It’s the same way that I know you love me and not my crown or my throne or the power or wealth of being the Prince Consort to a King.”

He watched as Steve nodded, meeting Bucky’s eyes.

“Then it’s worth it to me, losing a little privacy, so the world doesn’t believe that you’re a cheater or a liar or whatever horrible thing that they’re calling you now,” Steve told him, softly.

“Sure you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Bucky said, nodding. “Then go out on a date with me. In public.”

Steve swallowed and took a deep breath, committing himself to their future. “I’d be proud to.”

“Damn, Rogers, you always know what to say to me.”

***

Reporter: Your Highness! Prince James! Is your engagement over? Taking your new lover out on a date? How does Steve Rogers feel about your affair?

Prince James: I don’t know, why don’t you ask Steve?

Reporter: We would, if we could get an interview with him!

Prince James: Tell them what you think about my affair.

Steve Rogers: Well, Buck, I guess you can call me your new lover; we’ve only been together for three years.

Prince James: Fifteen, total, if you want to count back that far.

Reporter: Wait! Are you saying that HE’S Steve Rogers!

Prince James: He’s always been Steve Rogers. Sometimes Stevie, but only his mom and I can call him that.

Reporter: You’re Steve Rogers?

Steve Rogers: I guess the cat’s out of the bag.

Prince James: Come on, doll, let’s go home.

Reporter: Holy shit…it’s been Steve Rogers the whole time…


End file.
